Monday, March 30, 2009

An anonymous reader sent me a link to a web site called Red Hot Copy that provides tips for writing marketing copy. Sadly, the writer should have taken some of her own advice. Before you hire writers for their article writing services check out their credentials and portfolios first to make sure they won't commit silly mistakes such as the one below. See the headline next to the arrow in the screenshot below.

Mistake #6: perpetrating an apostrophe catastrophe when you want readers to see you as a writing expert.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Art found an apostrophe catastrophe in the print copy of Canada's Globe and Mail. See the headline in the screenshot below.

The comma is unnecessary, as well. Art noticed that the story was from the Associated Press, so he did some research to find out where the error originated. It turns out that the AP's original headline also used an incorrect apostrophe.

While it could be argued that Americans possess their spending and savings, I think the headline should be "Americans saving more, spending less" with an implied verb "are."

"I wonder what Canadians' are doing," Art quips.

Also, check out the name of the woman who is quoted in the article. Was Grace's maiden name so bad that she decided to go all Dr. Seuss after she got married?

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The reporter who wrote this article must have been so excited about seeing a baby giraffe that s/he forgot how to use proper punctuation. Check out the apostrophe catastrophe at the end of the first sentence.

Thanks to Ashlie, who sent me this screenshot, The State corrected the error on its web site, but it still makes the blog anyway because I'm evil like that. Looks like someone named Sid noticed the mistake, too.

If you want to see photos of baby giraffes and other adorable baby animals, check out ZooBorns. The cuteness is overwhelming.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Dave from Bristol, England, was horrified when someone slipped this flyer under his door:

Don't look too hard at this image or your head might explode. With the missing apostrophe in childrens, the errant apostrophe in partie's, and the spacing and capitalization problems, this is one of the worst catastrophes I've seen in a while.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! I'd better post something before I go out and start drinking or else I might commit my own grammatical errors. Case in point: the person who printed this shirt was clearly drunk.

Thanks to Apostrophe Catastrophes fan Kim for sending me this photo. Kim says that her husband received this shirt as a gift but can't bear to wear it. I don't blame him. What is it with its/it's confusion on shirts?

OK, I'm off to look for corn beef and cabbage somewhere near my office. Sláinte!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. I saw a band play on Friday that was so fantastic that it made me stop being grossed out that there was a dog in the bar. The pub should have put up a sign like this:

Except without the apostrophe catastrophes.

Thanks to Jane for uploading this photo to the Apostrophe Catastrophes facebook group.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

There are many problems with this St. Patrick's Day cup that I found at Walgreens.

Much like this product, the shape does not lend itself to proper punctuation, so we're missing an apostrophe and a period. Even stranger, it appears that this cup is intended for beer, yet it has a straw. That's just wrong.

About this Blog

If you find examples of apostrophe catastrophes or other punctuation errors, please e-mail them to apostrophecatastrophes [at] gmail.com. Feel free to include a link to your own website or blog if you want credit, but please don't send content that has been posted or submitted elsewhere.